My father and I took a trip last year to the Bighorn and on our way back his rod and reel was stole. He had a 5 wt reel and a 9ft 5 wt rod. He is in the process of replacing it but he is not sure of what weight he should purchase. We mainly fish the Yough spillway and PA streams. What would you guys recommend weigjt and size? Most of PA's stockies are very small. We may in the future get back to the Bighorn but didn't run into any giants that a 5 wt couldn't handle. Thanks for the help guys!

Just to be contrary I'll split the difference and suggest a 4 weight. It gives you just a little more "ummph" to chuck and duck a weighted nymph rig or a larger streamer.

With skill you can handle 99% of the fish you will ever hook on a 1wt, assuming of course that you have a leader of adequate strength to handle the fish you hooked.

In fly fishing the line weight is the delivery system, and heavier line weights make delivering larger flies and heavier rigs easier.

The rest is up to the person working the rod.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Posted on: 2013/2/10 0:44

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9' 5 wt. Much is more versital than a 4 wt. A 4 wt is nice for a soft dry fly presentation, but will be a struggle to throw a size 4 weighted streamer. 5 wt will do it all nymph, streamers, and dry flies.

I prefer a 4 wt, but consider the 5 wt a more all rounder if you have only one rod. On larger rivers there are places I can't hit with a 4 wt if my position or the wind are contrary, but I can hit with a 5 wt. Therefore, I've had a lot more days when I wished I had my 5 wt with me than days I wished I had my 4 wt with me.

BTW, I just saw Joe Humphrey's talk on small stream fishing and he recommended a 5 wt or a 6 wt. There is an argument for a heavier weight to punch a tighter path through cover. It's not the trend these days, but someone like Joe can catch an awful lot of trout in any sort of stream.

I would consider what type of flies you fish and what rod action he likes. You don't always have to fish the line weight printed on the rod. If you get a faster action rod marked as a 5 wt you can probably fish a 6 wt line also with bigger/heavier flies.Just experiment with some different lines to see what you like.I have a sage xp marked as a 6 wt that I use with 7 wt line for bass/steelhead/big flies but sometimes when I'm on bigger trout water (like the yough) or fishing smaller flies I'll use a 6 wt line.

It seems unlikely to fish with only one fly rod. I have had 9' 5wt and a 6'6" 3wt. If I could start over, I think I'd go 4 and 6 weights. I think a 6wt is the right choice for streamers on bigger water and the 4wt is fine for smaller streams. My 3wt broke last year. I had built it from a Loomis IM6 blank in the nineties. It broke right where it exits the grip while I was casting. No good fish story here. What a disappointment but I guess graphite can do that. Having said all that, I'd go 6wt with a 4wt in the future.

I own a 6 wt cabelas LSI 9 ft that is fast action and i've never casted a better rod, I love it for nymphing and it will fling dries with ease in a small breeze, I also have a konic on it and fully loaded the setup is very light which makes the fight very fun, you can gear up just look at weight of the rod not the line weight